1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a visualization apparatus for the vein, and more particularly, to a visualization apparatus for the vein, which may irradiate infrared rays and obtain and display an image so that a skin portion and the vein therein to which the venipuncture is performed may be observed simultaneously.
2. Description of the Related Art
The venipuncture means directly pricking the vein with an injection needle for intravenous injection, venous blood collection, venous pressure measurement or the like and is one of the most often used works. However, the accuracy of the venipuncture greatly depends on individual experiments and skills of an operator, and it is very difficult for skilled operators to perform the venipuncture to infants and children, obese patients, and patients with dark skin color.
According to related studies, the first-attempt success rate of the venipuncture is very low for such a patient group, which may cause bleeding, infection, displeasure or the like to the patients. For this reason, the venipuncture gives a large burden to not only patients but also operators. Many devices for visualizing the vein of a patient to assist the venipuncture have been proposed but not widely used due to low effect and high price.
Existing devices may be classified into a screen display type and a transillumination type depending on their operating methods, both of which have their own drawbacks and restrictions in use.
The screen display type device may use near-infrared rays having a wavelength range of 730 to 740 nm, which is most suitable for visualizing deoxygenated blood in the vein, but the screen hides the skin visually, which seriously deteriorates immediacy and accuracy.
Meanwhile, the transillumination type device reinforces the silhouette observed through the skin of a patient by projecting visible rays (red, orange, yellow or the like). In case of the transillumination type device, an operator may directly see the skin of a patent and the silhouette of the vein appearing through the skin without any obstacle, but should use visible rays instead of near-infrared rays, which inevitably deteriorates the quality of a vein image.